The tragedy of the Black Paladin.....
Part 2: Why the fans have lost faith in the writers
Now here’s something I’m sure you’ve also seen after the infamous interview.
“You shouldn’t trust the writers word because they have mislead and lied many times in the past.”
“ This is going to be Shiro’s character arc for the remaining 26 episodes. He’ll be back in Black in no time. Patience yields focus.”
I agree to both statements. I certainly hope Shiro is taking the “Korra route” of his recovery (feeling needed, quitting his role as a Paladin because he’s having an identity crisis.”) but when comes to interviews in regards to Shiro, there’s an air of indifference when the writers talk about him as if they’re saying “we don’t know what to do with him” or “we don’t care what to do with him because he was never part of the Grand Plan.’”
Does this mean they hate Shiro? It depends on who you ask but I think we can all agree that the writers weren’t thinking things through when they were writing his character.
The writers have made three things clear in any interview when it comes to Shiro.
1. He was never meant to make it past S2. He was suppose to stay out long enough for Keith to become the leader. Shiro’s entire existence revolves around Keith and how his death effects Keith and only Keith.
2. They weren’t expecting Shiro to be this popular.
3. They never talk about Shiro and his story arc. This may have been because they wanted to avoid spoilers but most of their interviews mainly focus on either Keith, Allura, and Lance (especially Lance because every season is a “big season” for Lance.). Shiro? Just the same old “we didn’t know he was going to be popular.” or “Shiro’s life revolves around Keith.”
Because of his unexpected popularity, Dreamworks told the writers to bring Shiro back ASAP during the writing for S3 in order to sell more toys. The writers obliged but there’s a twist: The Shiro that was brought back was an evil clone (who got the short end of the stick) while the real one was inside the Black Lion because he died. I don’t understand why the higher ups agreed to this pointless story line but the important thing is that writers got what they wanted. They wrote the Real Shiro out for 3 seasons by killing him off and Keith is now the leader. We should happy, right? The answer is no because this decision came at a price. The way writers handled Shiro’s story arc has resulted in......
-Shiro’s accomplishments being a waste of time.
-The clone getting more sympathy than planned.
You want to know why I hated the clone theory? Because clones rarely get a happy ending. And because Kuron was Shiro down to his memories, personality, and morals, his death is even more tragic.
-People have been contemplating on dropping the show because of the big spoiler.
If this was the writers way of getting fans pumped for S7 then it backfired. Even I’m thinking about moving on from Voltron because why should I watch a show if I’m no longer enjoying it.
-Keith’s character arc is now seen in a negative light
the subject of Keith becoming the Black Paladin varies from person to person but as I’ve seen someone brilliantly point out, Keith’s leadership arc suffered because the writers had to write him out in order to accommodate Kuron. I can understand why those who are against Black Paladin Keith may feel like his leadership arc felt unearned and just handed to him simply because “the 80′s cartoon did it.” It wouldn’t surprise me if Keith is now going to be called a Gary Stu here on out because things always work out for him and that the series revolves around him.
The Lion Bonds are now pointless if not inconsistent.
In S1/S2 we’re told that the bond between Paladin and Lion is unique because their Quintessence mirror each other, and that bonds cannot be broken that easily even after 10,000 years (as shown through Zarkon). by S3 it’s now “You can switch as long the Lion says it’s okay and that bonds can be easily severed if your name is Shiro.” Who cares about consistency if it means we can get what we want, right?”
Going back to S1/S2 line up will cause backlash
Even if Keith goes back to Red and Lance back to Blue the bonds they had with them is now weak because they didn’t spend enough time with them. If the lion switch lasted a season then maybe it could’ve worked but now the writers have to appeal to the pro-switch so they don’t get any more backlash.
And since severing bonds is that easy now, the writers can just say that Keith’s bond to Red and Lance’s bond to Blue is gone now because the Lion said “It left when you left me, but we’re cool, right? Or is this rule only exclusive to Shiro because Shiro is the universe’s punching bag?
And last but not least.....
The fans no longer trusting the writers because they’ve told the truth about how they really feel about Shiro.
While it is perfectly normal for writers to mislead their audience but I feel like this interview was the last straw. They can mislead all they want with the story but the interviews and the show have told us the truth. They don’t like Shiro. Shiro is only kept around because they were forced to. They’ve been told by their bosses to expand on his storyline because they liked him but the writers made it worse with the clone storyline because they didn’t want the Shiro everyone loved to come back (and in a twist of events, nobody wanted to see Kuron go either). The real Shiro is back but the damage is done. The writers told us the truth about how they feel about Shiro based on their actions towards him. If they have to keep him around then they might as well make sure he doesn’t get in the way by destroying everything he’s worked for. It does feel like their refusal to acknowledge that Shiro evolved from a plot device to a character is now causing the show and the fanbase to fall apart.
This doesn’t mean I’m saying that Shiro is THE main character of the series, but if feels like status as a breakout character is what was keeping the show together. Just like the head of Voltron. Just the like the Black Paladin.
I know what you’re thinking, you’re thinking “But the show’s not done yet! They can turn it around!” My response is: Are you sure? Can we trust them to turn it around when we have 26 episodes left? Can they give Shiro a satisfying end to his character arc? Even if they can’t go back and change things there’s no guarantee that people are going to be happy with it because the damage has been done. Shiro was never meant to the Black Paladin from the start.
And with that I have nothing more to say other then this:
I am no longer excited for Act 3 of the series. From now on I will seeing Voltron from a casual approach( I’ll write a post if I feel like it’s necessary). I won’t be excited for SDCC (watch them reveal the new intro. That’s going to tick people off), any trailers or clips that come up, or waking up at 4 am to watch the new season. When S7 comes out I’m just going to go “I’ll watch it when I have the time.”
It’s a shame but that’s how I feel right now.
